88 MUSHEOOMS, HOW TO GBOW THEM. 



makes some 10,000 bushels, equal to 160,000 pounds, of 

 brick spawn for sale. The amount of spawn made in a 

 year by this one manufacturer is about three times as 

 much as the total annual importation of mushroom 

 spawn of all kinds into this country. And he is only 

 one maker among several. This fact alone must con- 

 vince us that musliroom-growing is carried on to a vastly 

 greater extent in European countries than it is here, 

 where we have as good facilities as they have, and an 

 immensely better market. 



The manner of making the spawn differs a little with 

 the different manufacturers, and no one can become pro- 

 ficient in it without practical knowledge. I asked Mr. 

 Barter if he thought spawn could be made profitably in 

 this country, paying, as we do, $1.50 a day for laborers, 

 and without any certainty of the same men staying with 

 us permanently. He writes me: "Uncertain labor 

 would be of no use. Of course tlie wages you pay would 

 not affect it much, as I pay nearly as much as that for 

 my leading men. But to begin with, you must have a 

 man that has had some experience." 



About the simplest and best way of making brick 

 spawn that I find described is the following from The 

 Gardeners' Assistant. I may here state that Eobert 

 Thompson, the author of this work, was for many years 

 the superintendent of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 gardens at Chiswick, near London, and, in his day, was 

 regarded as without a peer in practical horticulture, and 

 lived in the midst of the market gardens of London and 

 the principal mushroom-growing district. 



"Fresh horse droppings, cow dung, and a little loam 

 mixed and beaten up with as much stable drainings as 

 may be necessary to reduce the whole to the consistence 

 of mortar. It may then be spread on the floor of an 

 open shed, and when somewhat firm it may be cut into 

 cakes of six inches square. These should be placed on 



